Nigeria targets gay relationships

Nigeria's Senate voted Tuesday to criminalize gay marriage, gay advocacy groups and same-sex public displays of affection, with prison sentences for anyone convicted. The bill must be passed by the House of Representatives and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan before becoming law. Public opinion and lawmakers' calls for even harsher penalties show widespread support for the measure in the deeply religious nation, the most populous in Africa. Across Africa, many countries already have made homosexuality punishable by jail sentences.

Klan robes part of black museum

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture said it has acquired two Ku Klux Klan robes that will be exhibited in the facility when it opens on the National Mall in Washington in 2015. One robe was donated by the family of the late Florida writer Stetson Kennedy, who died in August some six decades after he infiltrated the KKK and exposed its secrets. The second robe belonged to Phineas Miller Nathaniel Wilds, a chaplain in the Klan. It was donated by his great-great-grandson, Richard Rousseau.

Associated Press

Top 10 Web searches

Microsoft's search engine Bing released a study reporting the top 10 most searched news stories of 2011: